Citizen journalism will shape the new face of the Oakland Press

The face of journalism is changing dramatically and newspapers are in the vanguard of this trend.

To that end, today we announce the formation of The Oakland Press Institute for Citizen Journalism and invite readers to attend our classes.

The first class will be from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29, in our building at 48 W. Huron St., Pontiac.

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Other classes will be scheduled in response to interest.

What is citizen journalism?

New York University Journalism Prof. Jay Rosen has probably come up with the best definition.

"When the people, formerly known as the audience, employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that's citizen journalism," Rosen says on his Web site, Pressthink (http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/press think).

When George Edwards captured on video Jeff Heath's 49-yard field goal supplying the margin of victory in Lake Orion's stunning victory over Stevenson a few weeks ago and posted it on The Oakland Press's MIPrepzone.com, that was citizen journalism.

Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," or "people journalism," is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal report "We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information," by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. They say, "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.

Some have called it networked journalism, open source journalism and citizen media. Communication has changed greatly with the advent of the Internet. The Internet has enabled citizens to contribute to journalism without professional training, according to NationMaster.com.

Mark Glasser, a longtime freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, gets to the heart of it:

"The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum.

"Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube. YouTube is a popular free video sharing Web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips."

This might seem radical to some, but the idea that average citizens can engage in the act of journalism has a long history in the United States. Mary-Rose Papandrea, a constitutional law professor at Boston College, notes that in "many ways, the definition of journalist has now come full circle. When the First Amendment was adopted, 'freedom of the press' referred quite literally to the freedom to publish using a printing press, rather than the freedom of organized entities engaged in the publishing business."

By today's standards, it now seems to have been cumbersome to take notes at an event, type up a story, get the story set in type for placement on a metal plate, have a photo taken by another individual, develop film, prepare what used to be called a "zinc" for purposes of putting the photo on a page, and come out with a finished product no sooner than four hours after the actual event. And video on the Internet was unheard of.

Of course, television and radio have always been faster. But even then, physically getting a cameraman to an event, as well as a trained reporter, took some time.

In our digital age, however, reports can be prepared and shared with the public in mere minutes. There is no longer a 45-minute film developing process, the original keystroke in typing the story suffices for print and online purposes and photos -- and even videos -- can be e-mailed from the scene.

Plus, phones can serve as cameras -- even for video -- and the airwaves and cyberspace are full of these endeavors produced by everyday citizens.

In starting The Oakland Press Institute for Citizen Journalism, we are trying to tap into this movement as a means of improving our bread-and-butter franchise of local news and sports coverage.

With our Web site, www.theoaklandpress.com, we can provide not only words and still photography, but we can and do supply video coverage of events.

There are ways for readers to help tell stories better, quicker and more completely.

This applies to high schools academics and sports, to local city councils and school boards, education, health care, business and financial, entertainment and human-interest stories.

That is why we will be offering anyone who is interested -- from high school students to retirees -- instruction in news writing, videography, basics of reporting for news and sports, and still photography.

For those who complete the instruction, we offer the opportunity to get your work published online or in the print edition. This experience would be especially helpful for high school and college students viewing careers in the communications field. In addition, others can work toward becoming members of our freelance stable of journalists.

To reserve a spot in our first citizen journalist class, e-mail me at glenn.gilbert@oakpress.com or call me at (248) 745-4587. I will want to know what your specific area of interest is: videography, local news or sports.